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Has any of Nostradamus's predictions actually come true?

Nostradamus, the famous astrologer of the 16th century has made about 353 predictions regarding not only the near future but also the centuries to follow.

Nostradamus and The World Trade Center

Even those who are quite good at English might find it difficult to comprehend the four lines given below. The verse-like lines were originally written in French and so the real meaning is somewhat lost in translation. The easy way is to go through the English translation once and then read the explanation given in the next paragraph.

At forty-five degrees the sky will burn,

Fire to approach the great new city

In an instant a great scattered flame will leap up,

When one will want to demand proof of the Normans.

Now, a description of these lines, which makes them a little easier to understand, though not completely: Nearly 450 years ago, French astrologer Nostradamus (picture above) spoke of a new and huge city in his verse-like prediction. This city was situated at 45° latitude. In the city, a colossal fire breaks out suddenly and huge flares of fire leap towards the sky. The proof of this event will finally be given by the Normans, that is, they are going to be asked for its proof.

After reading the description one cannot even guess which event Nostradamus had predicted in the above mentioned lines. Up to four and a half centuries the prediction of Nostradamus awaited being proved true like many of his other predictions. Finally, on September 11, 2001, when the twin towers of the World Trade Center in the USA were attacked by terrorists, Nostradamus' lines given above were flashed on to the internet within seconds and gained attention world wide. According to many people, Nostradamus had been proven correct once more. They believed that Nostradamus had foreseen the destruction of the twin towers about 450 years ago! The time when the USA was still considered as the city of Red Indians and European settlers had not reached its shores.

If we try to fit the words of Nostradamus' prediction with the event that actually happened in September, 2001, the first thing that comes to mind is that the two sky scraper towers of the World Trade Center were situated in New York city, which was termed as 'great new' city by Nostradamus. However, New York's geographical location is not 45° latitude. The actual figure is 40° 5' North latitude. In other words, it is a little far from 40° latitude to the north. The exact difference is about 600 kilometers. Two lines of the prediction seem to lit the event exactly since no sooner did the two airplanes of the hijackers strike the twin towers on the morning of September 11, 2001, one after the other, than huge flares of fire reached the skies.

Now, let's turn to the next line, which somehow fails to lit with the World Trade Center attack. The word 'Normans' relates to the Viking people that inhabited Norway and settled down on the French coast about 1500 years ago. Eventually they captured entire France and as time passed they accepted French rites and rituals. what connection these people have with the World Trade Center and its grotesque episode is anybody's guess.

Despite this, the 'intelligent' who could decipher the message in Nostradamus' deep and mysterious words caught the thread of his meaning and understood what he wanted to say. It was just a question of somehow fitting the words to the actual event. So even if the World Trade Center/WTC was not situated at 45° latitude, the hijackers' Boeing-757 that crashed into the northern tower of the WTC came at it exactly at an angle of 45°. Approximately during 150 BC geologist Ptolemy had made about 3,000 dots on his haphazard map of the Earth and then, based on this, had chalked out various longitudes and latitudes. In those days the word 'latitude' meant 'angle' as well as 'latitude' though.

People who had faith in the farsightedness of Nostradamus found the connection between the Normans and the WTC. They considered Normans as French. Now the only question was of proof of the terrorist attack. The French spy federation had complete information about the attack a day earlier (on September 10, 2001). They had sent the information across to the USA's intelligence agency FBI but even so they (the Americans) paid no heed.

There are many more such events and examples which proved Nostradamus' predictions as true and strengthened the faith of his believers and followers. As a result, the predictions of the events of the world up to the year 3797 made by Nostradamus who was born in 1503, are still considered authentic even today - almost 500 years later. They are still a rich source of, and a favorite subject for articles, events and shows for all sorts of newspapers, magazines, TV channels, etc. No sooner does a huge event or accident happen than Nostradamus and his predictions are remembered. There are still 1786 years for the 'expiry date' of the predictions made by Nostradamus since his predictions go on up to the year 3797.

Who Was Nostradamus?

Who actually was Nostradamus who became so famous (or notorious as some people will have it) for his predictions that encompassed centuries? If looked at this from the parameters of the fame he has achieved due to his predictions which have proved true time and again, then he was one in a million. Nevertheless, this infant who was born on December 14, 1503, in the French village of Remy, was not even accounted for in the census of that village since his parents and whole family were Jews. Politically speaking, Remy was then part of Provence and many Jews resided there. A couple of years before Nostradamus' birth, on September 26, 1501, the then French emperor Louis the VII had given an ultimatum to all the Jews to take up Christianity and had given them three months' time in which to do so. Those who flaunted this declaration were not permitted to stay on in the region.

Nostradamus' parents and all other family members embraced Christianity, since no place was safe for Jews in those days. Louis the VII wished to convert all the people residing in France into Christians since he needed the support of Pope Alexander the VI to ensure that his reign continued. Even after the family gave up their Jewish culture and embraced Christianity, the doors to prosperity did not open up for Nostradamus because of his original name which was Michel de Nostredame (meaning — Michel of our Lady) was as it is and had no overtones of Christian Latin in it. The name itself proclaimed him to be a French Jew. Over and above this, Michel de Nostredame started being interested in subjects that opposed the then beliefs and thoughts of the Christian church: medicine, chemistry and astronomy.

In 1517, Michel went to Avignon situated to the north of St. Remy for his primary education. Three years later, in 1520, due to the epidemic of plague that hit Europe his education remained incomplete. Since many children had gone down with plague, the management shut down the school. Fortunately, Michel was not infected by the disease but even then instead of returning to St. Remy he started off on the long journey to Europe. He wanted to know and understand the medical aspect of the epidemic. This journey was to continue for eight long years. Who knows which paths he took and which places he visited. Nevertheless, that arduous journey was the proof of his deep rooted interest in medical science and finally, in 1529, he gained admission to the Montpelier University of France to study medical science. He graduated after 4 years and started his medical practice in the prosperous city of Eigen, where some years later he got married.

Around 1538, plague struck once again. Michel de Nostredame's wife and two sons lost their lives to plague and so a heartbroken Michel started out on a 6 year long journey. On the way, he treated hundreds of people suffering from plague. After studying medicine further in the Marseilles University of France, he settled down in the city named Solon and got married once again. The terrace of the house he purchased here on November 11, 1547, was ideal for viewing planets and proved to be the reason for his interest and subsequent fame in the field of astrology. He even changed his name in Solon. To get rid of the 'Jew' stamp he changed it to Nostredamus from Nostredame. In English the pronunciation changed from the hard 'd' to the soft 'd’ and finally to Nostradamus.

As per some historical records, one fine day, Nostradamus felt that he came to know about important events of the future automatically. It was a natural inspiration. Intuition, as his followers would like to call it. After 1547, the physician Nostradamus started gaining fame as an astrologer. Many citizens of Solon used to come to his place to have their horoscope made or to understand the detailed meaning of what was written in their horoscopes. Every night, after dinner, Nostradamus would sit in solitude in the attic on the terrace and practice deep thinking. He would sometimes go on the terrace and observe the daily movements of Venus, Mars and Jupiter in the skies with his naked eyes. He would return to the attic and according to the so-called inspiration he felt, would pen down his predictions for whichever future event he had envisioned.

Nostradamus published the first edition of his evergreen book of predictions in 1555. The book which was written in French was called 'Les Propheties de M. Michel Nostradamus' - The prophecies of Mr. Michel Nostradamus. The sub—title was 'Centuries' but the word 'century’ was not used to literally mean 100 years. There were a total of 100 prophecies in the book. All of them were in the form of short 4-lined verse. If each of his predictions which were written in the form of a 'quatrain' are to be considered as short verses or poems, then along with being a physician and an astrologer, Nostradamus was a poet too. A good linguist too, as he had used Latin, Italian as well as Greek words along with French in many places. He published books named Centuries 2, 3 and 4 after this first book named Century 1. The last book had only 53 predictions instead of the usual 100. Thus, the total number of predictions was 353, while the aim of Nostradamus was to take this score up to 1000.

when a person is depressed he takes the support of astrology to comfort and console himself. For the French people the 16th century was depressing in many ways. Bloody battles were fought in the name of religion. Fatal epidemics like plague broke out time and again. The farmers were exploited, and it was a time of droughts and famines. In short, the time for the French citizens was full of sadness, depression and hopelessness; so Nostradamus' books which showed them a trailer of their future started selling like hot cakes. However, many of Nostradamus' predictions were for the distant future and not for the near future or tomorrow and so most of his fame (that gave him instant success) came not from the written word but from the verbal prophecies he made. It is quite possible that each prediction was a rumor that was attributed to Nostradamus, but let us see one event as an example:

In 1555, Nostradamus was lying on the sick bed. He was alone in the house. All the doors were shut. Late at night one of the servants of the landlord was looking for a dog that had wandered off and was lost. The servant roamed far and wide and searched for the dog everywhere but did not find it. So that servant started venting his anger on all the residents of the city. He finally reached Nostradamus' house and knocked on the door. Nostradamus who was still in bed answered him saying, "Why are you making so much noise? Go to the Orleans road which is a short distance away from here. Your landlord's dog, tied to a lamp post, has been sitting there since long!"

This incident can in no way be considered as gospel truth, nevertheless, there are innumerable such events which have been credited to Nostradamus name. His fame continued to grow; so much so that the French queen Catharine also heard of him. Catharine sent for his book and read it. Who knows what meaning she gleaned about which prediction but she asked the then king of France (Henry the II) and sent for Nostradamus and invited him to Paris. Nostradamus started out from Solon and reached the king's court after an arduous journey of about 30 days. Catharine held quatrain number 35 in front of him, the suspense creating English translation of which is as under:

The younger lion will overcome the older,

In single combat, on the field of war,

His eyes will be pierced in their golden helm,

Two wounds become one and he dies a cruel death.

Catharine feared that these lines had been written for King Henry. Whatever explanation Nostradamus gave to the queen when he was face to face with her no one knows, but this much is certain that the answer was as confusing as his words in the verse were. Predicting the death of the king was like signing your own death warrant. Nostradamus returned to Solon after making many predictions in the queen's presence and earning quite a few gold coins along with the promise of a life-time pension.

Catharine alerted King Henry due to the fear she herself had (and perhaps because of the indications given by Nostradamus). But even so, on July 10, 1558, the king who was fond of the sport of fencing fought a duel with the commander-in-chief of his body guards, Count Montgomery, in a tournament that was to be held on that day. According to the rules of the game, both of them were wearing a ’helm' meaning ’helmet.’ In Henry's case, the metal used for the head gear was gold. During the duel an accident which rarely takes place occurred and the point of the count's sword pierced King Henry's left eye right up to his brain. There were two wounds - the eye was lost and the brain too was injured and so after suffering a lot and fighting a losing battle for 10 days, Henry finally passed away.

What more was needed to make Nostradamus, the soothsayer, world famous? The said prediction did not pertain to an ordinary man. The emperor of France had to bow down to his prediction. Most obviously, all four of Nostradamus' books proved to be a 'ready reference' for all the small and big believers of astrology. As time passed, people felt that many of his predictions were coming true. Each and every event could be likened to one or the other prediction. The rising of Hitler to power, the commencement of the Second World War, the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the assassination of American president Kennedy, Saddam's anti-America revolt, etc nothing was left out.

According to the believers of Nostradamus absolutely nothing was left out. If one thinks on the lines of science, logic and intelligence then what actually are all these predictions of Nostradamus? Before ending Nostradamus' story let us take a peek at this side also. Read each event described hereafter with a steady and unbiased mind and full concentration.

Nostradamus has described many events but he has not given the date, year, or even the century of any of the future events. Though he has written about the events that will happen, but there is absolutely no clue about when they will take place. On the other hand in the 4 books titled 'Centuries,' the total predictions made are 353. Each one is different from the other; meaning there is a lot of variety. Thirdly, during the 450 years that have passed after the penning down of 'Centuries,' all types of incidents have happened. Therefore, just as everyone finds something to match his/her shape or size in a shop selling ready made clothes, according to the law of probability, it is not at all difficult to relate some or the other words written by Nostradamus to some event or the other. There is no bondage of century, year or even date in doing so, is there?

» Nostradamus became famous as an astrologer, but in actual fact the word necromancer is more applicable to him. The language used in the quatrains is so confused that one cannot find the thread of the events predicted. No one understands even one word. The believers and followers of Nostradamus scan the books written by him after the event has happened and then whichever verse resembles the event is made famous - and then wait for some other big incident to relate it with one more prediction. This will obviously go on until 3797 AD.

» Many of Nostradamus' predictions can be interpreted in more than one ways. For example: In the prediction concerning the World Trade Center he has used the French word 'Ville neuve' in his original writing. This means 'new city.' Not only does a city with such a name actually exist near Paris in France, but its geographical location is also 45° latitude. This new (neuve) city (ville) had gone up in flames during the war Napoleon had waged against England and in the Second World War, German fighter planes had bombarded it, but what is the importance of an event that is considered insignificant during a gruesome world war? At forty-five degrees latitude, the sky will burn... fire approaches the great new city... the words of this prediction were molded to fit the destruction of the World Trade Center.

» Nostradamus has played quite a lot with words in the sentences he has used. As a result, it is easy for many people to turn and twist the words according to their whims to give the words the meaning they want to. For example in the prediction about a gruesome war, the last line is "Mabus then will die." Which is this fierce battle? Obviously the one between Iraq and the USA! Then who is Mabus? Can it be anyone other than Saddam Husain? If the name does not match, ask Nostradamus' believers and you will receive a prompt reply that one should write "Sudam" according to the pronunciation and then hold this up in front of a mirror. The experiment is worth doing. The names are not going to match even after the experiment. Have another go. Play with the name of the terrorist Osama Bin Laden. First of all, replace '0' with 'U.' Now take away 'in' and write only 'B.' Now arrange all the letters in such a way that Nostradamus' prediction becomes absolutely true. Write the capital letters 'U' and 'B' in the small case as 'u' and 'b'. At the same time capitalize the letter 'm' - 'M'. Now have you got the word 'Mabus?' Therefore as soon as this 'Mabus' died, Nostradamus' prediction was hailed as gospel truth by one and all!

» I Many of the predictions that have been attributed to Michel Nostradamus are not there at all in his books 'Centuries.' There are about 50 such predictions which are famous since they were made after the event took place and so have been relegated to Nostradamus. Three predictions related to the destruction of the World Trade Center are doing the rounds and creating a lot of ripples everywhere. The writer of two of these predictions is not Nostradamus.

Besides all these facts, Nostradamus who passed away in 1556, has become immortal and each of his predictions are considered evergreen even today. Even if the predictions have no connections whatsoever with science, logic or intelligence, Nostradamus is not going to be forgotten until year 3797.